5 July 2014

46 Indian nurses stranded in Iraq return home

Dozens of Indian
nurses stranded in territory held by Islamic extremists in Iraq returned
home to southern India on Saturday aboard a special flight, officials
said.

The 46 nurses had been holed up for more
than a week in Tikrit, where fighters of the Islamic State group have
taken over. The nurses had been moved to a new area under the extremist
group's control, and finally crossed over late Friday into Irbil, in
Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region.

After a brief refueling stop in Mumbai, the plane landed in Kochi, in Kerala state, where the nurses are from.

Outside the Kochi
airport, hundreds of friends and relatives of the women greeted them
with hugs and flowers. The nurses all looked exhausted and emotional,
with one hugging her young nephew tightly.

Another
nurse told New Delhi Television that the Islamic extremists did not
mistreat the nurses after they moved them from their hospital in Tikrit
to Mosul.

Another 76 Indians were also aboard
the plane that flew them from Irbil, according to Syed Akbaruddin, a
spokesman for India's foreign ministry.

After dropping off the nurses, the plane transported the others to the southern city of Hyderabad, Akbaruddin tweeted.

It remained unclear
whether the nurses had been held by the militants or were just stranded
in their territory. The Indian foreign ministry gave no details of how
their freedom was secured.

According to the
foreign ministry, 39 Indian construction workers abducted two weeks ago
were still being held by the militants, but were safe and unharmed.

Speaking
to reporters on Friday, Akbaruddin said that any details about the
backroom diplomatic maneuvers that India undertook to free the nurses
would compromise the safety of the construction workers.

About 10,000 Indians work and live in Iraq, but only about 100 are in violent, insecure areas.

The
abducted construction workers were mostly from northern India and had
been employed by the Tariq Noor al-Huda construction company.